Hibs: Snow delays the return of key duo

HIBS boss Colin Calderwood revealed today that he doesn't expect Merouane Zemmama to be fit for a return to action until the middle of January - and admitted that Darryl Duffy's return is even further away.

• Zemmama (left) and Duffy are both some weeks from making a first team return for Hibs

The manager of the Easter Road side has been without the pair's services since being appointed as John Hughes' replacement in October.

With last weekend's match against St Mirren called off because of the weather, along with today's game at Hamilton, the injured players have had their rehabilitation programme disrupted and Calderwood is not expecting to be able to call upon them for some time yet.

Calderwood admitted that the freezing temperatures had made it more difficult for the likes of Zemmama and Duffy, with the hard ground forcing them to train indoors or use the gym instead.

He said of the duo, who have been suffering with knee and foot injuries respectively: "We haven't been able to get the injured players out on the field and joining in as much due to the weather so they've had a bit more aerobic conditioning but not the practice we'd have imagined they would have.

"Zemmama will be back in mid-January and if we don't get games you can put that back further. As for Darryl, he'll be beyond that. Zemmama has been doing some ball work. He joined in little bits on Friday, and had before the snow started but he has to get to the end of December and then he'll go to the next level.

"He's missed out bits and pieces of the warm-up and training so there would be no contact for him - it's been more frustrating for him, although it still wouldn't have been before the first couple of weeks in January that we saw him back."